Our two-week trip to Alaska began in Seattle for a quick weekend...
...although I was sick for most of it, and stayed in bed with toast and jam, I did make time to taste some delicious Belgian waffles from Sweet Iron Waffles. Crisp, sugary, and perfect, just like the ones in Belgium! If only they'd open a shop like this in Boston, my life would be complete!
After our quick stop in Seattle, we headed to Fairbanks (with our complimentary Starbucks coffee served on-board).
Fairbanks is a very small city, as are most of the towns and cities in all of Alaska. Our only night in Fairbanks we headed out to the Loose Moose for our first experience of reindeer....yes, reindeer. Don't worry, they are mostly domesticated caribou and it's just like eating any other sort of farmed animal, no Rudolphs were harmed in the making of any of these products (as my mother asked every single time).
In the morning, we headed to the Alaska Railroad, to take our 6 hour train ride to Denali National Park, our eyes glued to the windows the whole time searching for moose, bears, and eagles.
Once we arrived in Denali, we had a bit of a wait until our plane arrived, so we looked around the visitor's center and found our first bear! 
...walked on some tundra...
...and panned for some gold...
...before leaving a few days later out on an early early 6-hour bus ride winding through the hilly roads back out to the entrance of the park.
I found some wild caribou, but wasn't able to leave them behind...
